Lebanon summons German envoy to protest blacklisting of Hezbollah

Lebanon has summoned German ambassador to protest Berlin’s recent decision to blacklist the Hezbollah resistance movement, a highly popular political and defense force in the West Asian country.

Lebanon’s Foreign Minister Nassif Hitti summoned Georg Birgelen on Tuesday, demanding clarification over Germany’s new decision regarding Hezbollah, according to Lebanese news website al-Ahed.

The German diplomat claimed that Germany had not designated Hezbollah as a “terror” organization, but had merely banned its activities on the European country’s soil.

He said Germany had made the decision a while ago, “but it has only recently come into force.”

“Germany did not classify Hezbollah as a terrorist organization, but rather prohibited its activities on German territories,” Birgelen claimed.

Hitti highlighted Hezbollah’s key role in the country’s political arena, saying the group represents “a wide segment of the Lebanese people and parliament.”

In a televised speech broadcast live from the Lebanese capital city of Beirut on Monday, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, the Secretary General of Hezbollah, roundly denounced Germany’s decision to ban the movement, saying the move had been taken under pressure from the illegal Zionist entity and the United States.

He added that Berlin follows what Washington and Tel Aviv dictate to it in their radical rhetoric against Hezbollah, adding that the German government’s accusations of Hezbollah “promoting armed struggle through terrorist means” are totally baseless.

Nasrallah then called upon the Lebanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants to protect the resistance movement against the ban.

SS